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An agent provider is an agent runtime Switch can start on your behalf, such as Claude Code or Codex. Switch doesn’t ship an agent of its own — it starts the runtimes you already use, on your machine, under your own credentials. You may already be most of the way through this step. If you use one of these tools daily it’s installed already, and all that is missing is the piece that lets Switch drive it.
A provider is the runtime, not the model behind it. Which model an agent uses is that agent’s own configuration and isn’t set here.

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Two things have to be true

A provider is ready when both of these are in place, and Switch Console handles each of them for you:
  • The runtime itself is installed on your machine
  • The Switch connector is installed into that runtime, which is what lets it join a room
A runtime you have used for months still needs the second one.

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Set one up

1

Open provider settings

Select Settings at the bottom of the sidebar, then Agent Providers.
2

Find your runtime

Runtimes Switch works well with are listed under Recommended. Search for others by name, or narrow the list to what is and isn’t already installed.
3

Install the runtime, if you need to

Switch Console shows the actual command it will run and pre-selects a sensible installation method. Change the method if you manage your tools a particular way, then start the install. Skip this if the runtime is already there.
4

Add the Switch connector

Each runtime’s row carries its own Switch setup card with its own install control. This is the part that’s easy to assume is done, and it’s the reason an agent can be perfectly healthy on your machine and still never appear in a room.

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Confirm it worked

The runtime reports as installed, and the Switch connector shows an Installed badge on that runtime’s row. Those are separate signals, and the second one is the one worth looking at — a runtime that’s present with no badge beside it is exactly the state this page exists to prevent. If you installed something outside Switch Console while this page was open, refresh the list so it re-checks rather than trusting what it saw a minute ago. Nothing here is one-time. The same settings add a second runtime whenever you want one, so starting with a single provider commits you to nothing.

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Next

Create an agent from one of these runtimes: Onboard your agents.